Walker Punts On Another State Debt Payment

In order to pretend that he is a fiscal conservative and that the state's economy isn't going down the toilet, Scott Walker has again fallen back on his tried and trued one-easy-step to financial success: Don't pay the bills!

Walker has, for the second straight time, deferred on making the full debt payment that he had budgeted for. As an added bonus, he is compiling the interest owed on it:

Gov. Scott Walker’s administration has put off a debt payment for the second year in a row — this one totaling $101 million — which will cost taxpayers about $2.3 million in additional interest.

The state was supposed to retire about $132 million in debt on May 1, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Instead it reduced that amount by $101 million, which will help the state end the current biennium on June 30, 2017, in the black.

However, it will also increase interest on the debt payments by $2.27 million over the next eight years, in addition to pushing principal payments into future budget cycles. The fiscal bureau put out a memo Tuesday based on an earlier estimate that the deferral would total $50 million, but the Walker administration confirmed later in the day that the total was actually $101 million.

Walker administration spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said the restructuring reflects “prudent fiscal management” that was done to take advantage of historically low interest rates in a process used under previous administrations.

She didn’t respond to a request for an explanation about why the state would rather pay more money in interest in the future rather than pay a lower amount now.

“We have a proven track record of keeping the state’s fiscal house in order,” Patrick said. “We continue to efficiently manage state resources and will end this biennium with a surplus.”

Of course, kicking the can down the road is nothing new for Walker. He's done that in every single budget as governor and when he was Milwaukee County executive.

It's also an economic strategy he uses in his own personal life. By not paying his bills, Walker has managed to rack up over a hundred thousand dollars in personal debt, forcing him to sell his house.

And who can forget how Walker comes up with new and increasingly bizarre fundraising emails while he pretends to want to pay off his campaign debt of over a million dollars?

The funny thing is that Walker used to campaign with the line that he would treat taxpayer money like it was his own. It figures that is one of the few times - if not the only time - Walker has ever told the truth and kept a campaign promise.

Deficits and Accountability, My Morning With Scott Walker

Yesterday morning I was invited by our School Board President to attend a meeting of Southeastern Wisconsin School Alliance.  This was a session she encouraged me to attend as part of my role as our board's legislative liaison.  In that capacity, I work with government officials across the ideological spectrum in order to advocate for the preservation of our public schools through proper funding.  As such, I spearheaded the drafting of a resolution against the voucher program that was passed by our board and sent to our state legislators prior to the passage of the 2013-15 budget.  In the final passage of that bill, the voucher program expansion capped at 500 students statewide.  Though we did not want to see the program expanded, I believe this is much better than what some members of the Committee on Education and on the Joint Finance Committee wanted.  There were other aspects to what was finally passed that were troubling, but I will discuss that later in another article.

Another area where damage was mitigated was the increase in per pupil adjustment/spending.  If you will recall, the original proposal in the state budget put forward by Governor Walker was ZERO.  As in zip, zilch, nada... Democrats in the Legislature and Senate stood strong on this issue and proposed an increase of $250 per pupil.  This amount was in line with what that average increase was in years prior to 2011 and was relative to CPI.  In 2011, Walker's first budget,  that amount per pupil was actually cut by -$528.81 per pupil,  followed by an anemic $50 increase in 2012.   This was just one level of the cuts levied by Walker's first budget, which was the largest reduction to public education in our state's history and the largest in the nation at the time.   So basically he made a huge draconian cut one year which was followed by an minor increase the next and everyone should now be grateful because it wasn't zero or even negative!  Oh thank you Mayor Quimby.  The  $250 level proposed by the Democrats would not have gotten our public education funding back to where it was over the last decade, but would have been a reasonable start to put the system back on sound footing.  In the end, after much negotiation and pressure from education groups across the state, the Democrats on the Joint Finance Committee, led by Jon Richards, were able to get $75 adjustment for 2013-14 and $150 each year thereafter.  This increase helped to offset property tax increases that had occurred across the state in recent years.  In Greenfield we were able to reduce property taxes by an average of 7.39%.  Remember to thank Rep. Richards for this the next time you see him.

This all leads me to yesterday's meeting and why I was eager to attend.  The program led off with a presentation by representatives from the Department of Public Instruction on a variety of subject including overviews of General Equalization Aid, Categorical Aid, and issues related to the way the state performs student counts.  All in all it was a very informative program that was well received by the 40 or so public school administrators and board members in the room.  

The second part of the program, the reason our Board President thought to invite me, was a Q&A session with Governor Scott Walker.  I know what you're thinking, you really wanted to attend such a session? Just let me state, I was willing to do this so you don't have to.  Also, I found it an intriguing opportunity most voters wouldn't get to partake in.  This wasn't a campaign event or a speech, this was a very select group of public officials on their ground, not his.  

The session began with some comments by the Governor about his connection to public education.  He retold the story about his own children and looking at Marquette University High School and Wauwatosa East and deciding Tosa East was the best option for them.  He emphasized this story by stating, "Our choice is public schools."  Let that bit of irony sink in.  If that were truly the case, why has he pushed so hard throughout his career in Madison to build up private schools by allowing them to receive public funds at the expense of public schools?  He again stated, "My goal is not one system or the other, my choice is public schools."  Why has he not acted forcefully to ensure accountability in the voucher program if that is the case?  He responded by stating "I absolutely believe in accountability, not only for tax payers and the public but for parents."  and that he will be supporting, "a school accountability measure next year to make schools receiving public funds accountable for how they use those funds."  When asked about his proposal to further expand the voucher system, he again stated, "there must be accountability."  and added that, "measurements must add value, not just paperwork."  and that, "Accountability shouldn't be measured by a focus on testing."  Think about that for a moment.  Now I am certainly not a testing advocate by any means, but testing does provide data points where certain achievements and comprehension can be measured and compared.  If public schools have mandates for testing and those tests are used to formulate the success or failure of those schools based on the state report cards each district receives, why would accountability mean voucher schools are exempt from that?  As for the rest, based on his past lack of support, I will file his responses in the "I'll believe it when I see it" file.

The discussion then turned to school funding and legislative policies.  When asked, "What is your position regarding a sustainable model for funding public education in Wisconsin?"  He responded by stating that he, "would like to change the aid formula to address the ways in which aid is affected by capital improvements and referenda."  Finally something I would like to see.  Currently, if you make large capital expenditures from Fund 10 (General Fund/Fund Balance), it negatively affects your state aid the following year.  There are ways to reduce the hit in state aid, such as what we passed in our district to expand our technology capabilities.  We set aside $3.5 Million in Fund 10 to be used over the course of 4 years.  This will help us absorb the negative impact.  I always found it odd that districts that underspend their budget were rewarded with more aid the following year, but then take a hit when they spend the money they saved.  Vigilance on behalf of the tax payers in this case ends up harming them with increased property taxes later.  It is my belief that a smart school board should be saving money over time to offset the need to go to referendum for major upgrades in their district.  Tweaking the way that formula works needs to be done and should be managed in a way that provides balance so districts have ways to provide the next level of education in a responsible manner.  I would be surprised if the Governor actually proposes something regarding this, but if he does and does it in a reasonable fashion, it would be the first initiative he has pushed that I would support.

Next the Governor was asked to explain his vision for public education in Wisconsin.  He first went to the standard, "We have to make education relevant." and discussed the need for, "an aggressive push to change the perception of tech and career colleges."  Which tied into a statement about the need to, "target aid to areas of need."  OK, I don't disagree.  He then brought up Act 10 stating that, "Act 10 provides more control at the local level but he would like to see even more flexibility."  If instability among staff equates to more control, that's a new one on me.  We continue to see districts across the state that are dealing with teacher resignations that are becoming harder to fill because of less people seeking education degrees.  Districts are beginning to engage in bidding wars for teachers with specialty degrees.  He further stated that Act 10, "allowed districts to focus on curriculum instead of grievances."  Interesting.  I don't know what the central office in his district looked like when he was going to school, but we have a Director of Human Resources and two Directors of Curriculum and Instruction.  One deals with grievances, the other handles curriculum.  It's pretty clear and basic.  If that is his reason for stripping away workers rights, I'd suggest he think of a better excuse than that.  He did let slip his contempt for unions with the statement, "unions didn't care about newer membership."  when discussing eliminating tenure.  Hmmm...not any union I ever experienced.  

Finally it came time for my question.  First I need to explain that I am a firm believer in the income tax over the property tax.  I believe the property tax to be regressive and disproportionately affects lower income home owners.  At the same time, the current state of our income tax in Wisconsin is also regressive in that higher incomes are taxed too low while middle and low incomes are taxed too high.  Because of loop holes in the tax code many high income individuals pay very little in taxes when compared to middle and low income individuals.  My other objection comes from the fact that at one time the state provided 2/3 of the funding to local districts.  That has not been the case for many years and as a result property taxes sky rocketed over the last decade and a half.  So I began by stating my concern on the impact of reduced aid to districts as it has a negative effect on the property tax levy.  I asked, "In light of the recent report from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau of a projected $1.8 billion structural deficit in the next budget cycle, what is your plan to maintain school aid from the state and protect property tax payers?"  It might have been too much to ask for a real answer on this question as well.  He began by expounding on the great work that the LFB does.  He then went on to criticize their numbers, stating that the LFB do not project revenue growth in their assessment and that his office projects a balanced budget.  Of course, the budget has to be balance by law.  The question was, in not so many words, how do you intend to get there?  He continued by saying that he believes revenues will increase.  OK?  So you're wishing for a good quarter to fix the problem?  Or perhaps some fairy dust?  He then went on to state that he wishes to see changes to how school aid is calculated.  Once again sir, not the question.  Unfortunately the way the program was set up, there were no follow up questions and his denial of the numbers in the Bureau's report was left hanging in the air.  The woman sitting next to me leaned over and said, "What does he mean they don't project revenues?  That's exactly what they do."  I found out she was a former IRS employee and really followed the budget numbers.  

In conclusion, our union men and women best be ready for the next attack, it's coming, and it will be swift.  He is evading answering questions honestly even when there are no cameras and many in the audience were probably friendly to his philosophy.  Most importantly, if you care about having leadership in this state that really understands the needs of providing the best education for our children so that they have every opportunity to succeed, get out there and knock on doors, make calls, and vote for Mary Burke.

Walker's Bad Gamble

For seemingly forever, the Menominee tribe has been trying to clear the way to build a casino in Kenosha.  After years of pushing for it, the federal government gave its blessing for the casino last year.

Before the casino could be built, it needed to be approved by Scott Walker.

Walker promised that he would make a decision quickly, but repeatedly pushed back his self-imposed deadlines as he tried to milk campaign donations from both the pro-casino and anti-casino factions and tried to figure which way would be the most politically advantageous for him.

Unsurprisingly, one of the opponents to the new casino, the Potawatomi tribe, got tired of Walker's shakedowns and decided to flex their own muscle by withholding a payment of $25 million to the state.  Needless to say, this is already causing havoc with Walker's already out of whack budget:

As tensions rise over a proposed Indian casino in Kenosha that would compete with the Forest County Potawatomi tribe's Milwaukee gaming operation, the Potawatomi are refusing to pay their casino fee of at least $25 million to the state.

In a letter to lawmakers Tuesday, Gov. Scott Walker said that the payment was due June 30 and that its absence is having an impact on the state's two-year budget, which has only limited reserves.

Faced with a budget crisis of his own making by putting bad politics before good policy, Walker did what comes naturally to him - blame someone else.

This time, he falls back to his old foil, Governor Jim Doyle:

Compact agreements negotiated by Gov. Jim Doyle's administration include clauses to reimburse some tribes for losses resulting from a new tribal competitor, payments that could equal tens of millions of dollars to the Potawatomi and the Ho-Chunk tribes. Those two tribes combined contributed $700,000 in soft money to the Democratic National Committee days before Doyle was elected in 2002.

"At least one of the tribal governments (the Potawatomi) appears to believe that they could recover about $100 million from the state — plus millions more through the process spelled out in the compacts and through the withholding of compact payments. This has already had a negative impact on the current budget and could very well create a program for future budgets worth hundreds of millions of dollars," Walker wrote to lawmakers.

In summary, Walker tries to play the two sides of the proposed casino against each other in order to maximize the odds of political gain for himself. But he pushed his luck too far and made a bad bet on how things would work out. And because of Walker's gambling problem, the taxpayers could be on the hook for tens - if not hundreds - of thousands of dollars.

I'm not a gambling man, but I do know a joker when I see one.  We need to get rid of Walker before we come up going broke.

About That "Surplus"...

In what I am sure was a inadvertent moment of truth, the Teapublicans and the Bradley Foundation-sponsored front group MacIver have accidentally spilled the beans about what we had known all along:

Walker never did fix the deficit like he claimed to have done.

The surplus that somehow miraculously appeared when his internal polling came back not looking so good, isn't really a surplus.  It's nothing more than the money he didn't spend to pay the bills, which, by the way, the taxpayers are still on the hook for. Plus interest.

The Day TABOR Came To Wisconsin

This afternoon, Scott Walker is scheduled to sign the budget for 2013-2015 at the plant owned and operated by some of his campaign donors.  As the gentle reader is fully aware of, there are so many things wrong with this budget that it would take a year to explain them all.

And that's just the stuff we are aware of.  Lord knows what other insanity the Republicans have sneaked in between the lines and won't be made known until it's too late.

One of the things that we are aware of is that Walker is again going to cut shared revenue to the counties and municipalities. And since he's already clamped down on local governments' ability to raise taxes, he has now shut them down from raising fees to make up some of the lost revenue.

Basically, what he is doing is bringing a version of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) to Wisconsin.  As the gentle reader might remember, TABOR started in Colorado in 1992, when the Teapublicans ran the place.  There were cries that taxes were too high, that the public sector workers were making too much money, yada, yada, yada.

Things got so bad that Coloradans voted to give themselves a five year reprieve from it, but thanks to the Great Repression and other factors, the time was too short to recover from the damage done.

Per the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, there are some main reasons why TABOR, which uses a population-plus-inflation formula, was such a failure:

Here’s why the population-plus-inflation formula doesn’t work:

• Population.  The segments of the population requiring the most state services, such as senior citizens and children, often expand more rapidly than the population as a whole.  In Florida, for example (which recently defeated a TABOR measure), the total population is projected to grow by 27 percent from 2010 to 2030, while the 65-and-older population is projected to grow three times as fast, by 87 percent.
• Inflation.  The inflation measure that TABOR proposals use — the U.S. Bureau of Labor’s “Consumer Price Index-All Urban Consumers” (CPI-U) — is not an accurate measure of the cost of providing state services.  It gauges changes in the cost of goods and services that individual consumers buy, like housing,
• transportation, and food, rather than the services that state governments pay for, like education and health care.  The cost of providing public services grows much faster than the general rate of inflation for consumer goods, in part because public services are less likely to reap the efficiency and productivity gains achieved by other sectors of the economy.  For example, teachers can only teach so many students, and nurses can only care for so many patients.

Under a TABOR, therefore, a state can maintain health and other services for the elderly (or expand them to meet growing need) only by cutting other areas of the budget, such as education.

Per the Center, the effects on Colorado weren't as advertised either:

Colorado’s national rankings on a number of public services plummeted under TABOR.  For example:

• Colorado fell from 35th to 49th in the nation in K-12 spending as a percentage of personal income.
• College and university funding as a share of personal income declined from 35th in the nation to 48th.
• Colorado fell to near the bottom of national rankings in providing children with full, on-time vaccinations.

The share of low-income children in the state who lacked health insurance doubled, making Colorado the worst in the nation by this measure.

In addition, TABOR failed to improve Colorado’s business climate or economy, contrary to the predictions of its supporters.  Instead it contributed to a credit rating downgrade and alarmed business leaders by undermining the state’s ability to invest in its basic infrastructure and workforce.

Tom Clark, Executive Vice President of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, stated, “For businesses to be successful, you need roads and you need higher education, both of which have gotten worse under TABOR and will continue to get worse.”  Similarly, Gail Klapper, director of the Colorado Forum (an organization of 60 of the state’s leading CEOs), said, “The business community has said this is not good for business, and this is not good for Colorado.”

To bring the point home on how this might affect the gentle reader on a day to day business, I would refer you to this article from three years ago which outlines some of the things that Walker's hometown of Colorado Springs, Colorado is facing due to similar acts of austerity:

This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric.

More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.

The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.

Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.

City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won't pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.

Walker, with the aid of his fellow corporate-owned Teapublicans won't be happy until they have driven this state all the way into the ground.  The only hope to stop further damage from being done and maybe even reversing some of the damage which has been done is to remove the ALEC-belonging, money-grubbing, corporate-owned Teapublicans and replace them with people who will look out for the best interest of the state and its citizens.

And we already know that we can't count on anyone but ourselves to do this.  Are you ready?

Democratic Joint Finance Committee members announce additional budget hearings

From the inbox, finally, some good news:

Democratic Joint Finance Committee members announce additional budget hearings

More opportunities needed for public input on Gov. Walker’s budget proposal

MADISON – Today the Democratic Senate and Assembly leaders and members of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC) announced additional budget hearing dates in order to allow for more public input on Gov. Walker’s extreme budget plans. The Democratic leaders are also inviting Republican legislators to attend these hearings.

The Republican co-chairs of the committee scheduled just four public opportunities for citizens across Wisconsin to tell the committee what they think about the budget. That’s tied for the fewest number of budget hearings held since at least 1985. The four communities chosen for the hearings also represent just two percent of Wisconsin’s total population.

Senate Democratic leader Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee), Assembly Democratic leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) and the four JFC Democrats – Reps. Cory Mason (D-Racine) and Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee) and Sens. Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) and Robert Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie) – released the following schedule of additional hearings.

There are currently 10 additional budget hearing dates scheduled. More information about specific times and locations will be released as it becomes available:
April 8—La Crosse. Hogan Administrative Center Gym, 5:00-6:30 pm, 807 East Ave. South.
April 15—Racine. Gateway Technical College, Great Lakes Room, 4:00-7:00 pm, 1001 Main St.
April 20—Milwaukee. Location TBD, 11:00 am-2:00 pm.
April 22—Wausau. UW-Marathon County, 4:00-7:00 pm, 518 S. 7th Ave.
April 22—Viroqua. Viroqua Middle/High School Band Room, 5:00-6:30 pm, 100 Blackhawk Dr.
April 23—Madison. Location TBD, 4:00-7:00 pm.
April 24—Wisconsin Rapids. City Council Chambers, 5:00-7:00 pm, 444 W. Grand Ave.
April 25—Appleton. Conference Center at Fox Valley Technical College’s D.J. Bordini Business and Industry Center, 4:00-7:00 pm, 5 Systems Dr.
April 27—Barron. Barron County Courthouse, 10:00 am-4:00 pm (final time TBD), 1420 State Highway 25 North.
April 29—Eau Claire. Chippewa Valley Technical College, 4:00-7:00 pm, 620 W. Clairemont Ave.
“This budget is as extreme and damaging to our middle-class neighbors as the last Republican budget,” Sen. Larson said. “Their budget gives a 30% increase in taxpayer money to private unaccountable voucher schools versus 0.01% for our community public schools and will lead to tens of thousands more being kicked off their health care.”

“We look forward to hearing from hardworking families and citizens all over Wisconsin on how we can fix this budget and ensure it focuses on their priorities,” Rep. Barca said. “It is vitally important that as many people as possible have the chance to weigh in, especially since so few will be able to attend the official hearings. We are ready to make sure their voices are heard on how we can work together to craft a budget that actually helps Wisconsin’s middle class.”

It's nice that at least one party is willing to listen to the people instead of the corporate special interests.

Walker Supporter Thinks Terrorist Attack On Milwaukee "Not A Bad Thing"

On Thursday, April 4, the Joint Finance Committee held their first public hearing on the state budget.  Wisconsin Eye was there and taped all of the statements offered by the citizens.

I would point the gentle reader's attention to Part 3 at the 2:28 mark.

At about that time, a man named Rudy Gomez speaks.  Gomez, who apparently is a member of the Milwaukee Police Department, supports Walker's budget , especially the removal of residency requirements.

Fair enough.

But during his statement, he says this:

Terrorists might attack Milwaukee - maybe that's not a bad thing, OK- but the cops, the firemen, we will be there.

It's not a good thing that someone who is sworn to protect and serve a city doesn't want to live there, but to say it wouldn't be a bad thing for terrorists to attack goes beyond the pale.

It's not very reassuring of where his level of commitment really is.  It would be better to have someone who is invested in the community instead of just doing a job.

The Walker Agenda Is Imploding, Er, Still Working! Parts CLXXI, CLXXII And CLXXIII

Earlier in the week, Scott Walker sent his lackeys in front of the Joint Finance Committee to put a heavy spin on just how bad the job numbers really are.

Basically, what they did was use the same math that Teapublicans use to count people at their rallies to show that Walker's agenda is creating a lot of jobs.  If five people show up at a Tea Party Rally, they claim it was 20,000 people.  Likewise, Walker's people said that if the state created three part-time minimum wage jobs, they'll claim they created 100,000 jobs, all bringing in six figure salaries.

As if the desperate spin put on things by Walker and his henchmen was enough of an omen that things were going to be bad, the sheer hysteria exhibited by the usual apologists and propagandists was enough to make anyone afraid.

Sadly for Walker, a bit of reality hit the same day that he was trying to convince people things were on the upswing.  It was found that Wisconsin was not only 44th in private job creation, but was 48th in economic activity:

Believe it or not, this was Walker's good day too.

On Thursday, the bottom dropped out from under Walker's agenda of austerity.

Not only was it confirmed that Wisconsin did indeed drop to 44th in private job creation, but it was hammered home that this is down from being 11th during Jim Doyle's final year and from 42nd after Walker's first year.

Even more significant and more depressing is that wages also sunk like a rock:

But wages in Wisconsin fell faster and harder than most of the nation. When ranked by the percentage change in all private-sector employment, Wisconsin average wages had the 45th-worst ranking out of 50 states.

In the manufacturing economy, where Wisconsin has a disproportionate share of its employment, Wisconsin's wages also dropped more than national wages did, ranking 46th in terms of the change from September 2011 to September 2012.

But it was also reported that something did go up in Wisconsin thanks to Walker's agenda - the unemployment rate, to the tune of a full half a percent in the past two months:

Wisconsin's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 7.2 percent in February from 7.0 percent in January, according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates released today by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD).

As to why Wisconsin's economic and job numbers are failing as much as they are, Walker of course had an excuse:

Asked Thursday about new numbers showing Wisconsin lagging in job growth, Gov. Scott Walker pointed to the uncertainty he said business owners felt because of the political tumult that rocked Wisconsin early in his term.

Meanwhile, his critics said the governor's policies had created a drag on growth.

"The first year we had a lot of protests in the state," Walker said, during an appearance in Milwaukee to promote business growth in the city. "We had two years', almost, worth of recalls. A lot of employers here I think can relate to the fact (that) uncertainty is one of the biggest challenges for employers big or small or anywhere in between. There was a lot of uncertainty. The good news is that's passed."

Shortly after he took office in 2011, Walker and the Legislature essentially ended collective bargaining for most public employees. That sparked heated reaction inside and outside the Capitol and led to an unsuccessful recall election challenge by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in June 2012.

Gee, the protests ended two years ago and the last recall election was ten months ago. That's plenty long enough for any effect that they might have had to have disappeared. Besides, Walker himself had said that the jobs would show a "dramatic turnaround" after the elections:

Walker blamed the state’s employment woes on the recalls, saying

employers are hesitant to add jobs during times of political uncertainty but that there would be a “dramatic turnaround” after June 5.

“There is a tremendous enthusiasm built up for additional jobs,” he said. “I think you’re going to see a tremendous takeoff.”

So what was the real cause of the steep nosedive for Wisconsin's economy and jobs?

For that, we can just go to the numbers like Michael Rosen did:

Wisconsin’s economy continues to be among the nation’s worst performing. A new report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that between 2011 and 2012 the state ranked 41st in nation in personal income growth.
The single largest contributor to this dismal performance was the dramatic decline in state and local government income, the direct result of Governor Walker’s austerity economic policies (See table 3).

Wisconsin’s state and local government employees’ incomes shrank by $529 million dollars, a 2.55% decline. Only Louisiana under the leadership of Tea Party favorite, Governor Booby Jindal, experienced as steep a decline according to the analysis.

Jack Norman put it even more succinctly:

"The only question is, 'Why are we doing so poorly?' " said Jack Norman, former research director of the left-leaning Institute for Wisconsin's Future. "The plunge in job growth, compared with other states, coincides exactly with Scott Walker's time in office. This is no mere coincidence. . . . Act 10 led to large cuts in public workers' take-home pay, which was a blow to the state's economy."

Gosh, now who'd have thunk that? Oh, wait, that's what we've been saying all along.  You take millions of dollars out of circulation and ensconce it in the bank accounts of a few already very rich people, and this is what is going to happen.

Sadly, the Democrats have continued to turn their back on Labor and not one response thus far has even mentioned Act 10, much less pointed out how that law has led to our economic woes and will have to be permanently revoked before the economy can be kick started again.

 Talk about blown opportunities.

Until they recognize the facts before their face and realize the importance of raising up the working class instead of just offering more corporate welfare, they will not be able to win and they will not be able to change the economy around.

Impeding Job Growth and Hurting the Unemployed

The following comes from the weekly e-newsletter from Senator Chris Larson:

There are several provisions in the budget that will not only impede job growth in Wisconsin, but will also have a negative impact on businesses, current Wisconsin employees, and neighbors searching for work. Some of these provisions are detailed below.

• Eliminate Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin: This popular program, run by the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP), helps to increase local sales of agricultural food products and create additional markets for these products. An initial investment of $200,000 into this grant program resulted in $2.7 million in new local food sales and $600,000 in new investments in Wisconsin. Additionally, over 1,200 Wisconsin producers have benefited from the grants provided through this program and dozens of other jobs have been created and retained across the state. Eliminating this program will cost Wisconsin jobs for our family, friends, and neighbors.
• Requiring Public Transit to Compete for Funds: The budget once again requires public transit, a program vital to job creation and retention in our community, to compete with other programs for funding by pulling these dollars out of the General Purpose Revenue rather than the transportation fund. According to the Milwaukee County Transit Systems, on average 140,000 rides are provided daily. Of these, 39% are commuters traveling to and from work, another 5% are heading to job interviews, and 11% are students making their way to classes to learn valuable skills for their future careers.
• Ignoring Problems at WEDC: The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, a hastily-created public-private agency, has recently come under fire as audits, reports, and news articles have confirmed that insufficient accountability and transparency measures led to fraud, waste, and abuse within the agency. Issues with WEDC include circumventing Wisconsin’s fair and competitive bidding process and ignoring federal and state laws when giving out grants. The final straw was losing track of over $50 million in loans, including about $12 million overdue. Despite the fact that this agency has been unable to track their allocated taxpayer dollars, Governor Walker decided to expand their budget by giving them $75 million in additional economic development tax credits without any increased accountability and transparency measures.

Siphoning Funds from Neighborhood Schools

As you may know, the 2011-2013 Biennial Budget passed by Republicans and signed by Governor Walker gutted $1.6 billion overall in funding for our local public schools while also funneling money into private voucher schools. With the introduction of Governor Walker's second budget, it appears the trend to devalue our children's need for a quality education is continuing. Not only does the newly introduced budget provide a 0% increase in revenue limit growth, but it also continues to divert money to an unaccountable, unproven voucher experiment and creates a voucher 2.0 program by altering the existing format of our charter schools.

Under the governor's budget, private voucher schools will not only be allowed to expand across the state, but they will also see a $73 million increase in funding and spending authority. This means up to a $1,400 per-pupil funding increase for the 25,000 students in voucher schools. In this very same budget, 870,000 Wisconsin children were ignored when a $0 revenue growth limit was instituted in their public neighborhood schools.

The issue of poor accountability and lack of transparency measures in voucher schools has been discussed since I was nine years old. Despite Governor Walker's repeated promises to finally bring accountability and transparency to all schools receiving taxpayer dollars--we have yet to hear about any changes. 

In addition to widespread concerns over the lack of accountability and transparency in Wisconsin's voucher schools, this program also comes at a substantial cost to taxpayers. In 2010, state law compelled Milwaukee Public Schools to levy over $50 million in taxes to subsidize the private schools making up the voucher program, which amounts to 17% of the total Milwaukee Public Schools tax levy. This financial burden increased the financial responsibility of taxpayers in 2012 to 22.6% of the total Milwaukee Public Schools tax levy. In truth, Milwaukee taxpayers are now being billed for both the largest school district in the state, Milwaukee Public Schools, AND the fourth largest, which is what the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program has grown to be with 22,400 students in the last school year. 

Unfortunately, by increasing the funding for Wisconsin's voucher schools, we are doubling down on a failed system. For those looking to get the most precise snapshot of just how voucher school students are performing compared to their public school counterparts, they should look at data recently collected by the Department of Public Instruction. This data analyzes how all voucher and public school students in 4th, 8th, and 10th grade performed in reading, math, and science during the 2010-2011 school year. According to the data, Milwaukee Public School students outperformed voucher students in eight out of nine categories.

Governor Walker's budget also seeks to further privatize education not only through voucher expansion, but also through charter school changes, such as creating a Charter School Oversight Board (CSOB). This Board would be attached to Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction (DPI), but would ultimately act independently.

Not only will the Board creating these charter schools be controlled by a one-party majority, but it will also face little public scrutiny, can opt to ignore the local school board, and will have sole discretion over the charter school's budget, curriculum, and personnel policies and decisions (such as licensure requirements). Under this proposal, school boards could convert all of the public schools within the district to charter schools. Further, should the area school board opt to convert all schools into charter schools, all students in the district could be forced to attend them. Likewise, parents and teachers in the district would have no say about the state-imposed decision.

While it may seem that school districts statewide will have the choice to go charter or not, this local control option was also eliminated. According to the budget text, approval for new, independent charter schools will be needed from home districts, unless the district meets the criteria of having two schools within the district with bad report card grades. In that case, the creation of CSOB will automatically be triggered, despite any voiced objections from the school board. 
 

Turning Down Federal Health Care Dollars

Another concerning provision discussed in the Joint Finance Committee briefings was the rejection of federal dollars to ensure more Wisconsinites have health care coverage. The Affordable Care Act offers states the option of extending coverage of our health safety net programs. The federal government picks up 100% of the cost for the first three years and no less than 90% every year thereafter. Governor Walker's decision to reject these funds seemingly defies logic. Even Republican Senator Luther Olsen objected to the Governor's decision while hearing the briefing from the Department of Health Services saying that it seems the state is "leaving money on the table." He suggested taking the smart, financial opportunity being offered now and instead make changes down the road if such changes are required. The governor's misguided choice will not only cost taxpayers more to cover fewer people, but it also turns away an estimated 10,500 new jobs. Additionally, as reported  this week in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, this decision could even cost Wisconsin businesses an additional $36 million compared to if Wisconsin had accepted these live-saving funds.

These are just some of the issues that were discussed in the agency budget briefings before the Joint Finance Committee this week. Such briefings will continue next week with the agencies that have yet to have their voices heard. I will be sure to keep you apprised of the important issues discussed next week, as well.

Click here to view a copy of the 2013-2015 Biennial Budget.

Click here to view publications by the nonpartisan fiscal bureau regarding the 2013-2015 Biennial Budget.

A Tale of Two Budgets

From Representatives Jon Richards and Cory Mason:

First budget day showcases a Tale of Two Budgets

Democratic JFC members note the Walker budget repeats the mistakes of the last budget that left Wisconsin 44th in the nation in job creation

MADISON – The first day of the Legislature’s budget committee process showcased two starkly different perspectives on the budget while the briefings with Walker Administration officials left many important questions unanswered.

Today the JFC heard testimony from the Department of Administration, the Department of Justice, the Department of Revenue and the Department of Workforce Development.

“Wisconsin is faced with a budget that shifts taxpayer money to unaccountable private schools, sells off public assets without requiring a bidding process and gives tax breaks to the wealthy,” said Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine). “It increases spending, increases debt and fails to restore damaging cuts to public education and job training that are hurting our state’s economic recovery.”

“What we do not have is a budget targeted at helping the middle class by supporting public schools, providing the best access to quality healthcare, creating family-supporting jobs and helping working families,” added Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee). “But it is not too late for the Legislature to reverse these shortsighted plans.”

Legislative Democratic Joint Finance Committee members pushed for a reversal of some of the most draconian budget provisions, such as taking tax dollars away from public schools across the state and freezing their resources while giving a more than 30% increase in tax dollars to unaccountable, private voucher schools. Democratic members also opposed giving a tax break to the most wealthy Wisconsinites, while a Republican member actually pushed for increasing money going to the highest income families.

“The more we analyze this 1,080 page bill, the clearer it becomes that it is not targeted toward helping the middle class, will not put people back to work and further jeopardizes our public schools,” Richards noted.

Democratic JFC members also raised questions on several items in the budget where the intent is not clear such as:

• Selling off state and University of Wisconsin property, which could include dormitories, highway rest stops or even the highways – without any the university or state agency approval and without requiring bids.
• Changing statutes to allow land ownership by foreign corporations.
• Cracking down on people earning low wages who Republicans raised taxes on last budget.

“Wisconsinites deserve to see a clear budget plan that lays out a new path that will raise Wisconsin from 44th in the nation in job creation by supporting our working families,” Mason added. “But all we heard today was more of the same failed policies of last time.”

Don't Back Up That Brinks Truck For Walker's Tax Cuts

Ever since Scott Walker gave his campaign speech disguised as a budget address, the right wing squawkers, blarghers and other propagandists have been faithfully been echoing the talking point that Walker put in an income tax cut in his 2011-13 budget.

But don't back up that Brinks armored truck to haul off your share of the wealth.* You won't even need your kid's piggy bank for it:

For example, a family of four with taxable income of $25,000 would see their state income tax bill go down by $6. At $50,000, the savings is $54; at $100,000 it’s $138; and at $200,000 the savings is $270.

"At first blush, the proposed tax cuts sound like they will help moderate-income families but the primary effect is to help the wealthy,” says Jon Peacock of the Wisconsin Budget Project.

Peacock notes that more than half of the projected $172 million in income tax cuts annually would go to the upper 20 percent of state residents.

“This just exacerbates the problem that the rich pay a much lower percent of their income for state and local taxes than lower-income Wisconsin families,” he says, noting a recent national report on that issue.

That really pales in comparison to what Walker did for his corporate sponsors in the current budget:

Actually, Walker’s 2011-2013 budget did use tax credits to target a specific group: factory owners and their investors. A domestic production tax credit that kicks in this year will deliver an estimated $360 million in tax savings to manufacturers over the next four years and some $130 million each year thereafter, according to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Considering that the median household income is about $50,000, that means most of us might save a buck a week. Hoard up those savings for a full month and you might, just might, be able to buy a gallon of gas. I say might, because under Walker's reign of economic terror, incomes keep dropping.

It should be pointed out that Walker's tax cuts are so lopsided it does next to nothing to help the poorest of the poor, who were punished for their poverty in Walker's first budget:

Last summer, the state Legislature reduced the amount of money low- income families can receive in tax credits by $56.2 million.

That places Wisconsin among only a handful of states that will effectively raise taxes on their poorest residents in 2012, according to a recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit think tank.

"At a time when low-wage workers are already struggling, this makes it that much more difficult (for them) to feed their families and pay their utility bills," said Jon Peacock with the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, an advocacy group that opposed the changes

Likewise, it offers no relief for the fees that Walker raised through the roof in the last budget and wants to rise even higher in this budget.

Another thing that the Walker apologists are touting his that Walker is proposing a freeze on property tax rates. That should scare the bejeebers out of you.

In Walker's current budget, he touted he cut property taxes. But like the majority of Wisconsinites, our property taxes had actually gone up. They would have probably gone up even higher, but Walker's policy of lowering our quality of life included lowering our property values.

Since my taxes went up by some 9% with Walker's tax cuts, I can't even imagine how much they'll go up with a freeze - 20%? 25%?

I wouldn't mind my taxes going up so much if we had something to show for it, like a decent education system, public safety, assistance for our neediest and most vulnerable citizens or even some creation.

Instead we have nothing to show but some of the most generous corporate welfare giveaway that do nothing to help our state.

But no one should be surprised. This is just a remake of his failures in his last budget, for which we didn't need that armored car either.


*Since Walker's make-believe surplus, which is actually a deficit he's not admitting too, which he is using for these tax cuts come from the money he took from public sector workers, isn't that socialism - forced sharing of the wealth?

The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CLVII

When I went out this afternoon to do the weekly grocery shopping, I went with a light heart.

I felt good because I knew that the Walker agenda was working.  After all, Scott Walker said so, as did Americans for Prosperity, the MacIver Institute and the mainstream corporate media.

They said that we are open for business, that Walker created a gazillion jobs and that we were all doing so good.

And we know that they wouldn't lie to us, right?

So it was with great shock that I saw two guys on the street waving signs announcing a going out of business sale.  Surely they were mistaken and meant to have signs saying that they were having a doing a super amount of business sale.

But, alas no.  The Fashion Bug store, located next to the grocery store and which has been successfully running for at least 15 years, probably longer, was going out of business.  It made me sad to see their store window plastered with going out of business and clearance sale signs:

I was shocked! Shocked, I tell you, to find out that taking the money away from people and giving it to be corporations and wealthy campaign donors meant that there was no money for people to buy enough new clothes to keep the store open.

That's when it dawned on me.  When Walker and his propagandists tell us it's working, they never said for whom it was working.

Obviously, it's not working for any of us, and neither is Walker.

The Kaukauna Is Still A Lie!

When Scott Walker budget was enacted last year, he loved pointing to the Kaukauna School District has an example of how his budget was so "successful" in saving taxpayers money and not harming the quality of education.

I pointed out a post by Jake, who pointed out that the Walker's Kaukauna story was a lie:

So this wasn't a "union costs exploded for 2011-2012" problem. This was a "budget cuts from Scott Walker and WisGOP in Madison are screwing us on the local level" problem. In fact, the original budget proposal from the guv resulted in a drop of Kaukauna's available revenues of $2.16 million (a bit under 5% of their total), and $2.75 million from the state (check out your favorite district's cut here, Kaukauna's on Page 5). The unions responded by proposing $1.8 million in concessions, which combined with the district $345,000 in surplus funds from 2010-11, would have taken care off all of the state cuts put into Kaukauna's budget. The Kaukauna School Board turned them down and asked for layoffs of 14.5 full-time positions instead, and decided to wait on the Legislature and State Supreme Court to do the dirty work of putting the screws on the teachers, and hope for large numbers of teacher retirements.

Which is exactly what happened. The Kaukauna teachers will now have to chip in over 18% of their pay in health care and pension contributions, with no corresponding increase in salary. And for all the talk about "Kaukauna class sizes going down," even Kaukauna School Board President Todd Arnoldussen admits it's projected class sizes being reduced, and those are reductions from huge INCREASES THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY PROJECTED. In other words, little to no change will result from what students would have seen this year. Class sizes DID NOT GO DOWN, as much as the deceptive press releases may indicate.

And I'm not even bringing up the fact that I wish Kaukauna good luck in attracting and retaining quality teachers when they're getting a huge cut in their take-home pay. Strangely, those "free-market" types that are always bashing public educators leaves out the free market reality of lower pay = lower quality. (But when has consistency and reality ever been part of the equation for those haters, anyway?)

The lie was picked up on nationally and made even clearer:

But here’s the thing: The collective bargaining ban, in and of itself, was not responsible for achieving these savings and this surplus. As the Appleton Post Crescent reports, the teachers union had already offered up financial concessions that would have produced almost identical savings and an almost identical surplus.

What’s more, the use of this one district to declare Walker’s policies a success is almost comical in its cherry-picking. There are 424 school districts in Wisconsin, and as the AP recently noted, Walker’s policies mean draconian budget cuts to 410 of them, with labor officials and school districts predicting increased class sizes and layoffs.

Walker’s premature declaration of victory — and the right wing echo chamber’s flacking of it — could look awfully silly when the full bill for his policies really comes due. And the notion that this one school district’s fiscal success is in any way a referendum on the most controversial aspect of Walker’s union busting proposal is laughable. This fight has never been about public employees’ unwillingness to make fiscal concessions — and always about stripping them of their rights.

When the recalls came, Walker and company tried to point at Kaukauna again as their flagship on how the budget was working. Meanwhile, those of us on the left repeatedly pointed out that any savings were one time deals and the long term costs would far exceed any savings, real or pretend, that Walker might tout.

Guess who was correct.

Well, let's just say thatKaukauna is still a lie:

The owner of a $150,000 home within the Kaukauna and Little Chute school districts will see annual costs jump $80 and $61, respectively, if the home’s value increases or decreases at the same rate as the school district’s projections.

After several years of cutting spending, the Kaukauna Area School District no longer had any fat to trim and will have to increase the tax levy for revenue, said Bob Schafer, business manager for Kaukauna. Because the district spent less than it budgeted, state aid was reduced by more than $850,000, according to figures from the Department of Public Instruction.

“Our biggest dilemma was No. 1, the dropping property values, and No. 2, the amount of state aid,” Schafer said. “We lost a lot of state aid this year.”

Kaukauna also underspent their budget last year by about $1.5 million due to healthcare and retirement adjustments, which meant a smaller state aid payment for the 2012-13 year.

“That does have a ripple effect in your aid payment for the following year,” Schafer said. “That was a big factor for us.”

Still, the situation could have been much worse, he said. Kaukauna had the option of taxing homeowners up to $10.13 per $1,000 of home valuation, but the Board of Education voted instead to take money out of a different fund and set the tax rate at $9.33.

“Yes, it does raise property taxes, but everybody feels that this is what’s best for the kids and the community,” Schafer said.

So those of you in the Kaukauna School District who voted for Walker, not just once, but twice, congratulations to you. You won the Walker Booby Prize of higher taxes and a poor education for your children.

Ah, ah, ah! No complaining now! You're getting exactly what you wanted. It's just too bad you had to ruin everything for the rest of us in your headlong rush to prove yourselves fools.

Walker: You Are So Screwed

From the weekly e-newsletter from Scott Walker:

The State of Wisconsin operates on biennial state budgets with each fiscal year running from July 1st to June 30th. We are currently operating under “Fiscal Year 2013” (FY2013) and will be until June 30, 2013.

I recently received budget requests from each state agency, which outline the money each agency would like to spend in the future. Over the next few months, I will be carefully reviewing each of these agency budget requests. These requests are just the first step in the budget process—I will eventually propose a complete budget early next year for consideration by the Legislature.

The 2011-13 budget I signed into law last year made long-term reforms balancing a $3.6 billion budget deficit without raising taxes, without massive public employee layoffs, and without government service reductions. Wisconsin has a projected budget surplus in FY2013. If the FY2013 projections are correct, we will deposit money into the state’s rainy day fund in two consecutive years for the first time in our state’s history.

Unlike other states, instead of burying the next generation under a mountain of economically crippling debt, we are making responsible decisions—leaving our children and grandchildren with funding reserves for future hard economic times.
The next state budget I plan to introduce early next year will focus on five main priorities:

1. Creating Jobs
2. Transforming Education
3. Developing Our Workforce
4. Investing in Infrastructure
5. Reforming Government

As I work on the next state budget, I am excited about Wisconsin’s future and the opportunities we have to grow private sector jobs in our great state.

Those were his same priorities for his first budget. Let's see how well they worked:

1. We actually have fewer jobs than the time that his budget kicked in.
2. Schools are suffering, cramming more kids into smaller spaces, cutting programs and have lost thousands of experienced teachers.
3. He cut funding to universities and technical colleges which train our workforce. Now the businesses that had supported him are whining that they don't have enough trained people. They now want our high schools to be their training programs.
4. More payback for the road builders!
5. More laws written by private businesses and lobbyists, regardless of how damaging and/or illegal they might be.

Yeah, this is going to get ugly. I just hope there's something left by the time we get our state back.

The Walker Budget Keeps On Working! Part CXLVII

Just before the recall election, Scott Walker sprung a surprise by announcing a super secret plan he called "Transform Milwaukee." I called it out for the bovine excrement that it was.

Sure enough, in the beginning of August, we saw evidence that he was blowing smoke up our collective rear ends and that his attack on Milwaukee was taking fruition as evidenced by the fact that manufacturing in the Milwaukee area was in a downward spiral.

Now things are getting so bad in Milwaukee that even Walker's staunchest supporters, both politically and financially, cannot hide the evidence that Walker's plan is NOT working:

For the first time in four months, less than half of metro area business activity indicators tracked by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) registered improvement vs. year-ago levels.

Only 10 of the 23 July indicators pointed upward, down from the 14 positive indicators posted in June.

“Much like the nation, local area economic growth has had difficulty getting fully
established in 2012,” said Bret Mayborne, the MMAC’s economic research director. “This is largely due to a less than stellar job trend. For July overall job levels were down from year-ago levels for the eighth consecutive month and only one of ten major industry sectors posted year-over-year employment growth.”

And remember, Milwaukee is the engine that keeps the state's economy going.

And with Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele embracing the same austerity measures, things are guaranteed to only get worse.

Elmbrook Parents Suffer Voter's Remorse

Last October, I pointed out that among the widespread damage that would be caused by Scott Walker's budget and policies, the Elmbrook School District was looking at closing one of its most popular schools:

The Elmbrook school board is facing a similar mess. The budget is in such poor shape that they are closing down a popular elementary school. Even when the parents try to save the school by holding a voluntary referendum to increase the tax levy, Walker's manipulations of the law has taken away local control from even the voters and prevent them from saving their school.

Two weeks later, the school board chose to ignore the people and closed down the school after all.

Despite having this come down on them as a direct result of Walker's agenda, the people in that community overwhelmingly voted for Walker during the recall election in June.

Now, the parents are angry with the predictable and predicted results of keeping Walker in office, at least until Walkergate catches up to him:

A "class-size controversy" at one school district - just months after a school was closed.

Hillside Elementary was closed because of budgets and shrinking attendance.

But now parents are frustrated because of over-crowded classrooms "We have voiced our concern on that and hoping that they'd add another teacher," said parent Jackie Smith.

Jackie Smith's concerned about her daughter's fifth grade class.

It's one of four at Swanson Elementary pushed to it's maximum size.

I feel bad for the children who are being robbed of their futures, especially since it's because of the selfishness and greed and folly of their own parents.

But I have to wonder what the parents were thinking. They knew what was happening to their children's schools because of Walker, yet voted for him anyway. Now they're upset and angry when things not only don't improve, but actually get worse? Really?

And do I have to point out that any limitations to class sizes was something that was lost when Walker took away bargaining rights? In other words, the parents voted for larger class sizes, so why are they complaining when they got what they voted for?

On another side note, when looking for more information, I did a search of WTMJ-TV's website for the story I linked to above. The search results showed this:

Click on image to embiggen it

However, the first story with the headline about parents being angry about the crowded classes, the article has been removed. Apparently, the corporate media doesn't felt it was less damaging to their cause to report the angry parents as having a "controversy" about class sizes instead.

Then again, I guess it is mildly surprising that they'd even report on it in the first place.

The Walker Budget Keeps On Working! Part CXLVI

Oh, that laser like focus of Scott Walker on job creation is at work again:

A total of 27 jobs in central Wisconsin will be lost as a result of a restructuring by Sentry Insurance, according to a news release from the company.

The company, headquartered at 1800 Northpoint Drive in Stevens Point, announced Wednesday it is restructuring its strategy for selling personal lines policies, and as a result will be reducing the number of sales agents outside of the region. The restructuring also will affect 144 home-based sales positions across 10 states.

“The decision to restructure is largely based on the cost associated with our business model of using employed agents working out of their homes,” the company said in an email.

Sentry officials were unavailable for further comment when contacted Thursday.

And he was ripping on President Obama for creating jobs? Really?

The Kick The Can Champion Of Fitzwalkerstan

As Milwaukee County Executive, Scott Walker was a master of kicking the can down the road at budget time. He'd do things like let repairs slide; not pay the bills; lay off workers until programs stopped working, knowing that any lawsuits would be months or even years down the line; dip into reserved funding; and even just draw up illegal budgets knowing that the repercussions wouldn't be felt until he was safely out of that office. Then he would declare a surplus when there was nearly a billion dollars in debt taxpayers were facing.

As governor, we see that Walker is still the Kick the Can Down the Road champion of Fitzwalkerstan. Again we see him extending the state's debt, raiding the transportation fund (not to mention preparing to raid the pension fund), and cutting services which are leading to greater expenses.

But Walker has learned a new twist. Not only is he kicking the can down the road, but he is kicking it to trip up the local governments and school districts.

To exemplify this, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently had an article about the future budgets of a "Fairly Normal" school district:

A year ago, Borch's analysis showed that things were going to be OK in Fairly Normal in the first year of the new financial realities. State aid went down, but employees paid a bigger share of health and retirement costs. The bottom line actually improved from what it would have been under the old system of increasing state aid and generous employee benefits.

In the second year, things weren't so good, and Fairly Normal had to dip into its "fund balance," which is pretty much like its long-term savings account. Years Three and Four get worse. By Year Five, which would be 2015-'16, Fairly Normal is running a big deficit, has used up all its savings and can't pay all its bills. I'm not exactly sure what we would call that when it happens to a unit of government in Wisconsin, but in other circumstances, I believe it's called bankruptcy.

Why did this happen? This is how I'd put it: Let's say your boss cut your pay. But he also helped you cover some of your expenses. For a year, it worked out to be pretty much a wash, and things were generally OK.

The next year, the boss gave you a little bit more pay, but your expenses started going up again. Things were not quite so OK. Same thing in the third year and fourth year. By the fifth year, it was ugly. You'd used up all your savings and you still couldn't pay your bills.

That's what is developing for Fairly Normal. As things stand, revenue stays pretty flat. But even without teachers unions having a say, expenses start climbing again. There are some modest raises, increases in health costs, costs for retirees and so on. Borch factors into his model that a lot of senior teachers retire due to changes in benefits and are replaced by younger teachers with lower salaries. (This is happening, in general.)

It's now a year since Borch first showed what he forecast for Fairly Normal. Things are developing pretty much as he envisioned, except a little less cheery on the bottom line. His forecasts now extend out an additional year and are looking like big financial problems loom for Fairly Normal.

The article goes on to cite a number of different possibilities to avoid the inevitable bankruptcy, including cutting even more teachers, cutting benefits even more (which would also reduce the number of good teachers), raising taxes and major program cuts.

I'd bet my bottom dollar that Walker is thinking that he will be out of the governor's chair by the time his bill is due, either in someone's cabinet or even as president himself.

But while Walker gets to celebrate being champion can kicker and parties hearty, we get stuck with the tab and the hangover.

The Walker Budget Keeps On Working! Part CXLV

Just in time for Labor Day, we find that Scott Walker and his budget is continuing to be the death knell for even more jobs. This time, 200 iron workers are victims of his ruinous agenda:

Brillion Iron Works, a division of Evansville, Ind.-based Accuride Corp., is cutting 198 jobs in Brillion — including 184 hourly and 14 salaried positions — on Saturday.

The company in a statement Thursday said slowing demand in its core industrial markets is behind the move.

The company will still employ 584 workers in Brillion following those layoffs, which should allow it to meet its committments to customers the remainder of the year.

Brillion Iron Works said it will maintain seven work crews, instead of 11, and eliminate the majority of its temporary salaried positions.

This is sickening. With just two days warning, 200 people have had their lives thrown into complete turmoil just because Walker sold the state a false bill of goods and is systematically ruining our state.

He cannot get indicted soon enough.

The Walker Budget Keeps Working! Part CXLIV

In May 2012, Scott Walker announced his secret, year-old plan to "Transform Milwaukee." He said at the time that he was going to turn his laser-sharp focus on job creation on Milwaukee and rebuild it as the manufacturing capitol of the world.

Well, his budget and polices are taking stronger root and he can honestly claim that he did transform Milwaukee. But just not in the way he said he would:

The brisk pace of manufacturing activity in the Milwaukee area has slowed considerably in the past two months, according to a report today by the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee.

August’s seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was 42.9, a big drop from 46.7 in July. A PMI above 50 indicates growth, while a reading below 50 means the industry is generally declining.

The index had been above 50 for three years, until July’s index showed the sector is declining. The PMI was at 60.2 in June.

Sad to say, it's not just Milwaukee that is feeling the Walker effect either. His policies are so bad that it has spread throughout Southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois:

Manufacturing in southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois shrank in August for only the second time in three years, with new orders declining and production slowing.

That's according to data from a monthly survey of manufacturers released Friday by Marquette University and the local chapter of the Institute for Supply Management.

The survey's index measuring industrial health was 42.9, down from 46.7 in July and much lower than a 60.2 reading in June.

An index score above 50 indicates growth, while below 50 indicates declining conditions. It was the second time the area's seasonally adjusted index fell below 50 since July 2009.

At this pace, it'll be a wonder if any of us has jobs by the time Walker is up for reelection.